It isn't personal - Javier Inclan simply can't be trusted

For two weeks, Javier Inclan's part as the bag man in Guttenberg Mayor David della Donna's corrupt little ring was broken on Friday (on March 28 and again on April 4). Perhaps it is fitting, because Friday is often referred to in politics as the day to "take out the trash" - or when bad news gets dumped so it doesn't get picked up in a news cycle. It is fitting because Javier Inclan would go on to trash his own reputation and, by his own testimony, show that he is unfit to hold any public trust.

For the record, I don't know Javier Inclan. I've never met him nor spoken to any for whom he worked. One friend who has met him socially told me that he seemed to be a very nice person. I have no reason to doubt this is true. I'm not accusing Inclan of being mean or doing nasty things to children or old people. My beef with Inclan is not who he is, but what he has done. What he has done, in no uncertain terms, is break the law. In so doing, he became a link that allowed della Donna to collect profit from a criminal enterprise, and della Donna allowed that criminal enterprise to continue.

It is an inescapable fact that Inclan's passive complicity allowed both della Donna and Luisa Medrano to continue their illegal activities. Take Inclan out of the equation and the ability to hide illegal campaign contributions disappears. Take away the ability to hide ill-gotten gifts and cash from the mayor and you take away his willingness to fix problems for Medrano the bar-owner. Take away the ability to have problems fixed from Medrano and you take away the ability of a human trafficking and prostitution ring to operate openly and with immunity. Take away Inclan, and the problem stops.

Inclan was apparently of the opinion that he was breaking no laws so long as he didn't open up the envelopes he was passing to the Mayor. He apparently believed that so long as he didn't actually see the cash disappearing from the donations, then he would be held guiltless for simply "trusting" della Donna and "just doing his job". He was wrong.

Legally, his responsibility as treasurer was to open those envelopes and document the donations, both cash and checks, that came into the Guttenberg Dems. If anyone donated more than the legal limit, it was his responsibility to refund it. And it was his legal responsibility to use the best-practices of bookkeeping to document these transfers. He admits that he violated this responsibility on a regular basis.

On one such occasion, a building inspector gave him an envelope and said, "Here's three thousand dollars from Luisa." True to his normal (and illegal) operating procedure, Inclan handed the envelope to David della Donna. It was this same envelope about which Anna della Donna asked Inclan how to get around campaign finance laws. To his credit, Inclan does not seem to have conspired to assist the della Donnas. To his eternal shame, he did not take any positive action - not recording the donation, not reporting the suspected campaign finance law violation, nothing.

Some time after these events, Inclan was appointed as Hudson County Clerk and becomes Executive Director of the Hudson County Dems. One would naturally assume that these jobs required someone to get a reference from della Donna, who would naturally take into account Inclan's ability to see-no-evil as chief among his qualifications. In January of this year, Inclan was named as the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff. All of these promotions, at least partially, are built on Javier Inclan's ability to pretend as if nothing illegal is happening right under his nose.

The question facing Govenor Corzine, then, is a very simple one. Can a man who has shown himself to be unfaithful in small things be entrusted with larger things? The only sensible answer to that question is a resounding "No!"

Javier Inclan may be able to say that he didn't take money, but he can't say he wasn't involved in David della Donna doing so. Because that remains true, Javier Inclan must either resign or Governor Corzine must fire him. Corruption, or even the willingness to allow corruption to happen, cannot be tolerated. It isn't personal. It's ethical.